Comfort and Tenderness
by mkim57
Summary: I wrote this story in answer to a challenge by Theresa on the HBX. TRs version is called 'Comodita e Tenerezza.' I wrote my story with the same title in English.


Comfort and Tenderness

Disclaimers: I don't own any of the JAG characters. I don't own any product or label mentioned for the purposes of telling this story. Any similarities to situations or persons living or dead are purely coincidental.

Spoilers: The episode 'Death at the Mosque' but in keeping with Theresa's story that Harm did not push her away at the hospital.

A/N: This story was written in answer to a challenge given by Theresa on the HBX last winter, to continue her story 'Comidita e Tenerezza.' You may find Theresa's story and other wonderful stories at her web site. Address is provided at the bottom of the page.

0445

Saturday

March 26, 2005

Harm had fallen into a very deep and restful sleep. As he started to wake, he felt surrounded by warmth and oddly enough, he could hear his own heart beating. He smiled as he heard, in his dreams, what he knew was Mac's voice. She said his name and it sounded so sleepy and sexy that Harm couldn't help but smile for a moment. If Mac only knew how much she was with him, even in his dreams. As he became more fully awake, he pulled his pillow more tightly to his cheek, trying to burrow his head in more deeply and vaguely wondering, why his pillow smelled so much like Mac's perfume.

Then, he remembered.

She had come to him; she'd slipped into his bed and held him, enveloping him with her comfort and tenderness.

The heartbeat he was hearing was not his own, but hers, the pillow upon which he rested was Mac, which would also explain why the scent of her was so pervasive in the room.

Slowly, Harm withdrew from her, careful not to wake her. He leaned on his elbow and as he looked at her sleeping form beside him, he remembered her words. '…Know that I'm here for you…I love you.' He hadn't dreamed it. She had said the words.

He had fallen apart in her arms last night and instead of pulling away in his pain; he had allowed her to draw him in. She had come to him willingly, and he certainly hadn't made approaching him easy. He brushed a lock of her hair back from her face as he turned over the events of last night in his mind.

Now the magic of finding her beside him began to fade, as he remembered the reason for his anguish. Mattie was all alone and still struggling to stay alive.

Mattie. He had to get back to her.

He slipped out of the bed and to the bathroom. He showered and wrapping himself in his robe, padded into the kitchen to make his coffee. Tea was definitely not going to get it this morning. He had a long drive to Blacksburg and a long drive back, late tonight.

As he placed the carafe on the coffee maker and waited for the coffee to brew, Mac walked into the kitchen. She was wrapped in the top sheet from his bed, with it tucked securely beneath her arms. Harm thought that on Mac, it had more of the look of an evening gown, than a bed sheet.

"Hi." She smiled at him almost shyly.

"Hello." It occurred to Harm to be a bit embarrassed at his emotional state last night, but he had too much on his mind to even go there. "Like your gown." He gave her a still sleepy grin.

"Thank you." She self consciously tucked it more securely at the top.

Harm turned more fully toward her. "No… thank you." He leaned on the counter and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Thank you for coming here last night."

Mac rested her hand on his folded arms. "I just wanted to be there for you Harm. I know it was a little…I don't know, forward…but I didn't think you'd ever allow yourself to lean on me…." She reached to touch his cheek. "If I didn't insist."

He gave her a knowing smile and grasped her wrist. "You're probably right."

He kissed her lightly on the forehead and just closing that distance, her nearness to him, and her kindness last night made him bolder, gave him the courage to venture further. Just for a moment, he wanted more, to connect with her in a deeper way, to lose himself in her for just a little while.

She smiled and kissed his cheek and as she started to turn away from him, to go and get dressed, Harm's grip on her wrist tightened. She turned back to look at him and her heartbeat accelerated when she saw the look in his eyes. It was dark and dangerous, and Mac couldn't help thinking, delicious. He pulled her close, now lifting both of her arms and placing them around his neck.

Harm did not speak but continued to look into her eyes, trying to say with a look, what he still could not find the words to say.

Mac rested her forehead against his, and even that simple gesture, comforted him to his soul.

Every doubt and for the moment, every worry, fell away and he kissed her. The kiss was cautious and tentative at first, but then he nudged her lips apart and when he deepened the kiss, he felt himself going over the edge, to a place that he had begun to believe he would never be.

Mac's 'gown' loosened and fell away; she broke the kiss and looked into his eyes. Harm's gaze became more intense, his desire for her could no longer be hidden. She slipped her hands inside Harm's robe; it's loosely tied belt coming open, allowing Mac to slip her arms around him, inside the robe.

All of the desire he had locked away for her, came rushing to the surface, when he pulled her warm and yielding body close to him. She fit into his arms as though she were made for him, the way it made him feel, really was…perfect. He closed his robe around her, pulling her closer still, the move was purely possessive and Mac could not keep from responding. She stepped between his legs, their bodies coming into even more intimate contact.

Mac whispered, "Harm…."

Harm didn't let her finish, he couldn't hold himself in check any long. His body was far ahead of them both, and it was calling out to hers on the most primal level.

He kissed her, his lips warm on hers; his desire to be inside her, in anyway possible was nearly uncontrollable. "Harm, I'm here…anything…anything you need."

Harm looked deeply into her eyes, his voice a hushed whisper. "You…Mac…I just need you."

He lifted her and carried her back to his bed, nearly mindless with desire and the need to please and be pleased. They began their lovemaking on fire with their passion and ended with comfort and tenderness, leaving no doubt in either of their minds of the love they had for each other.

_**1 hour later…**_

Harm and Mac had showered and dressed.

"Harm, I can go with you" Mac walked with Harm to the door, meaning to leave with him.

"I know and I appreciate that. I'm not pushing you away Mac. I just want to focus on her, until I know she's going to be alright." He started to turn to leave and then looked back at her and said, "She knows….Mattie knows that I love you."

She had wondered if he would be able to say it, and the effect of those three words on her was profound. She loved him so much.

"If you don't want me to go, take this with you." She stepped in more closely and reaching for him, cupping his face in her hands, and guiding it to hers. She kissed him with as much passion as she could muster.

Harm held her loosely in his arms, and when he looked into her eyes he asked, "Are we okay?"

"We're more than okay, Sailor."

Harm stepped back one step and cleared his throat slightly "Okay. Uh… Will you stay…I mean, will you be here when I get back?"

Mac agreed, without hesitation and Harm felt another door that he had locked in his heart, open wide.

As Harm exited the elevator of his building, he thought of Mattie, he felt hope for the first time. It seemed to him, that if he and Mac could find their way to each other after all they had been through, then miracles were really possible and maybe, just maybe, Mattie would walk out of that hospital in Blacksburg, someday soon.

Later as Harm exited onto the Beltway, the thought occurred to him, that he felt better and his mind clearer than it had been for a very long time.

It had all started with a bit of comfort and tenderness, from the woman he loved.

FIN

Theresa's website

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